PPHO reports Phuket children and youth increasingly involved in drugs

On July 21st 2010, at the meeting room of the Office of Strategy Administration and Educational Integration 10, Tri Akaradecha, a Vice Governor of Phuket, presided over the opening of a behavior change program held for drugs users and people who were at risk of using drugs in Phuket. The program was organized by the Phuket Public Health Office or PPHO. People who attended the program were educated in the dangers of drugs and the way to save their friends or families from drugs.

Dr. Narinrat Pitchayakamin, Head of PPHO, said that drugs were spreading among teenagers in Phuket. The statistics in 2010 indicated that there were 491 teenagers and children attending drugs therapy programs in local hospitals and clinics. 41.30% of them were aged 16-20 years old and 23.91 of them aged 10-15 years old. These group of teenagers mostly used amphetamines and marijuana. Moreover, there were a group of teenagers, arrested in drugs cases, who were also forced to attend the therapy program as well.